Lincoln and Berry

[mbgross]

I decided to get all the books listed in Michael Burkhimer's book "100 Essential Lincoln Books" ( I am one short of having all 100). One of the recent books that I got was "Lincoln at New Salem" by Thomas Reep. it is a delightful book that gives a lot of information on all the settlers in New Salem and what happens to them afterwards. when I first got the book I was disappointed that there was much highlighting and notes written inside. I usually hate that, but I noticed that the former owner of the book had written many notes that challenged many of statements in the book. the former owner name was in the book and his name was Zarel Cratic Spears. I thought he was a relative of George Spears of New Salem. (Lincoln once wrote Spears a terse note). Because of the same last name and many of his notes concerned George Spears, I thought he must be related. (I am sure that they are but I couldn't find a direct link.) What I did find out is that he is related to William Berry of "Lincoln and Berry Store" fame. In fact he wrote a book called "Berry and Lincoln: The Store that Winked Out" which is a strong defense of Berry and claims he was not the drunk that everybody claimed. (I have now ordered that book). It was co-written by a son of William Barton. My question for this esteemed body has anybody heard of this defense of Berry? is there any validity to his argument? You can read Spears's book at this link https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=m...=1up&seq=9

[RJNorton]

(10-14-2019 08:08 AM)mbgross Wrote:  My question for this esteemed body has anybody heard of this defense of Berry?

Mike, personally I have not. I think I have consistently read that Berry had a serious drinking problem. For example, in Joe Di Cola's book on New Salem, Joe discusses Berry and Lincoln obtaining a tavern license for their store. Joe writes, "Having a license to sell liquor by the drink only exacerbated William Berry's alcoholism and led to Lincoln turning over his interest in the store to his partner on April 29, 1833." (p. 62)

[Rob Wick]

I don't know how much you are wanting to get into the details of the book, but the Robert S. Barton papers dealing with its publication are at the University of Illinois in the Illinois History and Lincoln Collections. That particular archive used to be under the direction of John Hoffman, who has since retired. Every time I've ever done research there or needed information they have been exceptionally helpful. Instead of trying to link to the finding aid, here is the material the library holds related to the book.

As to your question about Berry, without reading the book I would be hesitant to say that the author is right or wrong. As to Zarel Spears' relationship to Berry, in the review listed here in the Journal of the American Bar Association, the author of the review writes:

Being a Lincolnite, I was always interested when my old friend Harry Spears of the Memphis Bar repeated to me the stories he had heard his grandmother, Harriet Berry Spears, the sister of William F. Berry, tell of the venture her brother and Lincoln made in, storekeeping at New Salem, Illinois. I was pleased, therefore, when Harry's brother, Zarel C. Spears, wrote me that he was sending me an autographed copy of this little volume.

So Zarel was the grandson of Berry's sister.


Here is the finding aid information.


Box 6

I. Berry and Lincoln, Frontier Merchants: The Store that “Winked Out”

A. Book Manuscripts

1. First draft, The Man Lincoln Forgot
2. Partial second draft, Lincoln’s First Partner
3. Second draft, 23 chapters without preface
4. Second draft

Box 7
5. Second draft (with references and footnotes)
6. Draft, The Firm of Berry and Lincoln
7. Partial final draft including preface and chapters 1-7
8. Partial final draft, Chapters 1-7
9. Partial final draft, Chapters 1-10, part of chapter 11; notes; 3 letters
10. Final working draft
11. Final working draft
12. Final draft
13. Galley proofs
14. Loose, printed version of the manuscript
15. Printed copy

B. Research and Manuscript Material
1. Four drafts of Chapter 1
2. Preliminary draft chapter for Berry and Lincoln, untitled
3. Preliminary notes and preliminary draft pages
4. Notes under the title “The Moral Character of William E. Berry”
5. Research material and correspondence from Zarel C. Spears’ trip to Illinois, including correspondence between Barton and Spears, Sept.-Oct. 1938 (27 letters)
6. Notes
7. Miscellaneous notes
8. References and footnotes for Abe Lincoln’s First Partner (includes two complete drafts of footnotes)
9. Footnotes for Berry and Lincoln
10. List of Illustrations
11. Material for list of illustrations
12. Descriptions of illustrations
13. Bibliography
14. Table of contents for preliminary draft, The Man Lincoln Forgot
15. Chronology of Events in New Salem (2 typescript copies)
16. Photocopies of pictures, ledgers for research on Berry and Lincoln
17. Reproductions of Lincoln and Berry saloon license and bond (2 copies)

Oversize ms981_h002
18. Photostats

Box 7 (cont.)
C. Book Jacket Material
1. Book Jacket
2. Photograph and negative of the book

D. Book Reviews
1. Review by F. Lauriston Bullard, Christian Science Monitor, 27 Dec. 1947 (1 typescript, 2 newspaper copies)
2. Review by Walter P. Armstrong, American Bar Association Journal vol. 48 (July 1948)
3. Review by Edwin W. Brouse, Akron, Ohio
4. Book review of Berry and Lincoln
5. Publisher’s advertisement for Berry and Lincoln
with quotations from published reviews, Stratford House, 1947
6. Quotations from published reviews (typescript)
7. Review by Lewis Gannett, New York Herald Tribune, 11 Dec. 1947

E. Correspondence regarding Berry and Lincoln (arranged chronologically)
1. Copy of typescript letter to Zarel Spears suggesting collaboration for a book on Berry and Lincoln, 28 Aug. 1937
2. 1938
a. Feb.-July
b. Mar.-July
c. July-Oct.
d. Oct.-Dec.
3. 1939
4. 1940
5. 1941
6. 1942
7. 1943
8. 1945
9. 1946
10. 1947
11. 1948

I have a copy of the New York Herald-Tribune review that I'll send to Roger along with the Journal of the American Bar Association review since both are too big to attach. The others would have to be found in the papers.

Best
Rob

Rob sent me the two reviews.

Click here and here.

[Gene C]

Mike,
Thanks for sharing your find.
A quick glance through it and it looks interesting.

[Gene C]

(10-14-2019 04:38 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  7. Review by Lewis Gannett, New York Herald Tribune, 11 Dec. 1947

I wonder.... any relation to the Lewis Gannett that used to post on this forum?

[Rob Wick]

Gene,


He is his grandfather,

Best
Rob